According to Reynolds Journalism Institute findings, two-thirds of U.S. adults used at least one mobile media device in their daily lives during the first quarter of 2012. Smartphones and large media tablets are now the preferred mobile media devices. In the two years since Apple defined the large media tablet market with its iPad, nearly a third of all adult mobile device owners in the U.S. said they are using one. For news organizations and advertisers, users of these devices, especially those who own large media tablets, have appealing demographic profiles. They tend to be relatively affluent, well-educated and avid news consumers.

DEVICE CATEGORIES: Nearly 70 percent of mobile media device owners routinely used two or more mobile media devices. Sixty percent of all smartphone owners used at least one other mobile media device. More than half (51%) of all large media tablet owners also used an Apple iPhone. Among smartphone owners who used one or more additional mobile media devices, 44% owned an Apple iPhone, 37% owned a variety of Android-powered smartphone brands, 14% owned a Blackberry, and about 5% owned some other brand. The following table summarizes responses in each device category.

GENDER: Men are still somewhat more likely than women to use mobile media devices, but the gap appears to be closing. In this survey, men accounted for just over half of all device users. However, gender ratios varied significantly within device categories. Women accounted for more than half of the small media tablet and e-reader users.

Device Category

Smartphone

Large Media Tablet

Small Media Tablet

E-Reader

Other Mobile Device

Men

60.3%

63.6%

48.8%

45.4%

54.3%

Women

39.7%

36.4%

51.3%

54.6%

45.7%

All Device Users

100%

100%

100%

100%

100%

AGE GROUPS: Individuals between the ages of 18 and 34 represented the largest percentage of mobile media device users (45%). More than half (51%) of the non-mobile device users were ages 55 or older.

Age Group

Percent Mobile Device Users

Percent Non-Mobile Device Users

Percent All Respondents

Age 18-34

44.9%

18.7%

36.3%

Age 35-54

32.4%

30.2%

31.7%

Age 55 or Older

22.7%

51.1%

32.1%

All Respondents

100%

100%

100%

Individual users between the ages of 35 and 54 tended to own more mobile media devices than users in other age groups. The following table shows the percentage of all mobile media device owners in each age group who used devices in the five main categories.

Age Group

Smartphone

Large Media Tablet

Small Media Tablet

E-Reader

Other Mobile Device

Age 18-34

92.7%

27.9%

8.6%

15.6%

30.9%

Age 35-54

81.1%

39.2%

16.1%

17.5%

33.2%

Age 55 or Older

73.0%

28.3%

12.5%

27.6%

28.3%

All Respondents

84.5%

31.6%

11.9%

19.0%

31.0%

INCOME GROUPS: Mobile media device users tended to have higher incomes than non-users of mobile media devices. Among all respondents who indicated that they had an annual household income of $75,000 or more, 81% were mobile device users.

Income Group

Percent Mobile Device Users

Percent Non-Mobile Device Users

Percent All Respondents

Less Than $75,000/Year

59.4%

40.6%

100%

More Than $75,000/Year

81.3%

18.7%

100%

More than three quarters of the non-users of mobile media devices reported an annual household income of less than $75,000. Among mobile media device users, those with annual household incomes above and below $75,000 were nearly equal.

Income Group

Percent Mobile Device Users

Percent Non-Mobile Device Users

Percent All Respondents

Less Than $75,000/Year

52.8%

76.8%

60.4%

More Than $75,000/Year

47.2%

23.2%

39.6%

All Respondents

100%

100%

100%

The following table compares the income ranges of mobile media owners in the five main categories of mobile devices.

Income Group

Smartphone

Large Media Tablet

Small Media Tablet

E-Reader

Other Mobile Device

Less Than $75,000/Year

52.2%

40.8%

48.0%

51.7%

53.3%

More Than $75,000/Year

47.8%

59.2%

52.0%

48.3%

46.7%

All Respondents

100%

100%

100%

100%

100%

Income differences were significantly more pronounced for different brands within each device category. For example, 50.8% of smartphone users with an annual household income of $75,000 or more owned an Apple iPhone. Conversely, 50.4% of smartphone users with an annual household income of less than $75,000 owned an Android-powered smartphone. The following table compares income ranges between smartphone brands and large media tablet brands.

Income Group

Android Smartphone

Apple iPhone

Blackberry Smartphone

Android Large Media Tablet

Apple iPad

Less Than $75,000/Year

63.9%

38.5%

41.3%

61.5%

39.1%

More Than $75,000/Year

36.1%

61.5%

58.7%

38.5%

60.9%

All Respondents

100%

100%

100%

100%

100%

EDUCATION: Mobile media device users tended to include a significantly higher percentage of individuals with university degrees than non-users of mobile media devices.

Education

Percent Mobile Device Users

Percent Non-Mobile Device Users

Percent All Respondents

No University Degrees

44.5%

58.3%

49.1%

4-Year & Advanced Degrees

55.5%

41.7%

50.9%

All Respondents

100%

100%

100%

Differences in educational levels also were somewhat more pronounced for different brands within each device category. For example, 48.0% of smartphone users without a 4-year university degree owned an Android-powered smartphone. Conversely, 44.5% of smartphone users with a 4-year or advanced university degree owned an Apple iPhone. The following table compares educational levels between smartphone brands and large media tablet brands.

Education

Android Smartphone

Apple iPhone

Blackberry Smartphone

Android Large Media Tablet

Apple iPad

No University Degrees

51.3%

36.0%

36.1%

43.7%

32.8%

4-Year & Advanced Degrees

48.7%

64.0%

63.9%

56.3%

67.2%

All Respondents

100%

100%

100%

100%

100%

PRINT SUBSCRIBERS: Nearly equal percentages of mobile media device users and non-users said they subscribed to at least one newspaper or newsmagazine. This suggests that users of mobile media devices are not abandoning print media at a faster rate than non-users of mobile devices.

Print Subscribers

Percent Mobile Device Users

Percent Non-Mobile Device Users

Percent All Respondents

Yes

39.8%

40.2%

39.9%

No

60.2%

59.8%

60.1%

All Respondents

100%

100%

100%

Nearly half of the Apple iPad owners indicated that they still subscribed to printed newspapers or newsmagazines. Only a quarter of the Android-powered large media tablet owners said they subscribed. Apple iPhone and Blackberry owners also were significantly more likely to be printed newspaper or newsmagazine subscribers than were owners of Android-powered smartphones. The following table compares the percentages of print news subscribers between smartphone brands and large media tablet brands.